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What is the opposite of the verb animate? I am looking for something meaning "take life out of something."

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vegitate (just kidding, I think) – GEdgar Jul 30 '11 at 1:41
How about 'defenestrate?' (or maybe 'exfenestrate' :-) – Pete Wilson Aug 8 '11 at 19:15
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Why can't you just look this up? A google search yields many results, and the thesaurus is your friend. – Mark Beadles Apr 19 '12 at 2:40
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How about kill? – zpletan Apr 19 '12 at 3:24

5 Answers

up vote 4 down vote

I believe it is uncommon, but disanimate is a word that means to deprive of life that has the same root as animate plus the Latinate prefix dis- which indicates a reversal or negation.

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This is very good. – Thursagen Jul 30 '11 at 0:33
up vote 3 down vote

Depress is listed as its antonym and can be used depending on the subject.

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Yes, I saw this in the Mac's dictionary as well. – annawie May 12 '12 at 16:08
up vote 2 down vote

How about:

Deprive
Unnerve
Weaken
Enervate
Devitalize
Debilitate
Exsanguinate
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up vote 2 down vote

Here are a few:

Deaden
Dampen (as in his spirits were dampened)
Dispirit
Quiet/Quieten (As in he quieted the man)

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up vote 1 down vote

Animate means movement and thus the antonym is freeze.

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